Counselling and support sessions for young people with a visible difference

We know that having a scar, mark or condition that affects your appearance (a visible difference), can impact your self-esteem and confidence.

We offer confidential one-to-one counselling and support sessions to anyone in the UK with a visible difference on their face or body. The extent or severity of the visible difference doesn’t matter – if it impacts your life or your child’s, then we are here for you.

Our trained practitioners can provide guidance and support to help you cope with your appearance-related worries and concerns or those of your child.

Read on for more information about the service. Ready to enquire? Click the button below or scroll down to fill in the form.

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Social and emotional support for children and parents

Our support sessions take place over the phone or via video call. Your practitioner will aim to build a trusting and compassionate relationship with you both. While the focus is on your child, we also support you to cope and how to help your child.

We offer up to 12 sessions, giving the opportunity to:

• Talk though worries and concerns.
• Build your child’s self-esteem and confidence.
• Cope with other people’s reactions and learn techniques to handle everyday situations like staring, questions and comments.
• Cope better with difficult feelings and feel more positive.
• Reach your child’s tailored aims for everyday life, such as feeling comfortable attending school or developing friendships.
• Find out more about your child’s condition and treatment options.

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Counselling and support for young people and adults

Counselling and support sessions are for young people and adults living with a visible difference that is affecting their mental health or wellbeing – how they think and feel about themselves or behave around others.

We offer up to 12 sessions with a focus on “here and now”. These give you an in-depth chance to reflect on the emotions, difficulties and challenges you might have around your visible difference.

Working with a practitioner enables you to:

• Gain a different perspective and greater insight into your situation.
• Explore your life challenges in relation to the impact of your visible difference and generate your own meanings and understandings of it.
• Consider ways you can engage with life more fully, with greater ease and meet your goals and aims to live the life you want.

To get the most from counselling and support at Changing Faces, you will need to:

• Be prepared to talk about how your visible difference affects you.
• Be able to commit to a regular weekly or fortnightly appointment between 9am and 5.30pm on a weekday.
• Be motivated and willing to examine yourself and change – the process is not always straightforward.

Counselling and support can be very rewarding but may not be for everyone. Our practitioners can help you decide which of our wellbeing services may suit you best.
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How does it work?

There are three steps to beginning counselling and support:

1. Complete the form below or call 0300 012 0275 to get in touch with our Support and Information Line where we can explore the best options of support for you at this time.
2. If counselling and support sessions feel like the right option, we will arrange an assessment to explore your needs with a practitioner. We will ask about your visible difference and the impact of this on your mental health and wellbeing, as well as explore any other issues you may have. The wait for an assessment is typically between one and three months.
3. Once agreed, your sessions will take place at the same time each week (or fortnightly). You might have up to 12 sessions depending on what it right for you – this will be agreed between you and your counsellor before you start.

All sessions are confidential.

Is there anyone we wouldn’t offer counselling and support to?

If you are concerned about your general mental health (not related to your visible difference) or feel you need urgent support, please speak to your GP to get the appropriate support.

We are not able to work with people who are currently experiencing:

• Complex mental health issues, such as psychosis, delusions, body dysmorphic disorder or personality disorder.
• An active or recent risk of significant self-harm or suicide.
• Major trauma symptoms.
• Eating disorders.
• Addiction problems.
• Psycho-sexual issues.

In the above instances we recommend a discussion with your GP who will be able to advise you about the most appropriate service for you and make a referral. Please visit our urgent support page for details of the organisations to contact if you need help now.

Request counselling and support sessions

Please fill in the webform below and a member of our team will be in touch with you shortly.

Alternatively, you can call us on 0300 012 0275. If you are under 16, we will need to speak to a parent or guardian first – please ask them to call us on 0300 012 0275.